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Europe 1998: VW Golf, Renault Megane and Fiat Punto lead

1998 is a turbulent year as far as the best selling models ranking is concerned, with no less than 4 models vying for the first place.

The VW Golf is back on top at a brilliant 672,662 sales, up 34% year-on-year. Its year had started very poorly though, with the 4th generation really struggling at the start of its career: it is #8 in January and #7 in February! It ranked #1 in May for the first time in over a year and never looked back, peaking at 69,715 sales in July and holding the pole position 8 times out of 12 this year.

Renault Megane Scenic

The Renault Megane is the success story of the year. Already up 35% at #5 in 1997 (#4 based on an alternative source), it is up a further 3 spots and 21% to rank 2nd best selling car in Europe this year. Never a French model had been that successful outside of its native country. The Megane even ranked #1 in Europe in March (63,620 sales) and April (60,600)! This success is mostly due to the Scenic MPV version which accounts for half of Megane’s European sales.

Down 2 spots to 3rd place, the Fiat Punto is still solid at 560,986 sales (-5%). It was the best selling car in Europe in January and February, and in the YTD ranking up to July, but couldn’t resist the ramping up of the Golf. At #4 with 558,717 sales and up 12%, the Opel Astra sees the effect of its 3rd generation launched mid-year: from July onwards it ranked consistently on the podium, stepping up to #2 from September on, and only 3,000 sales below the Golf in November.

Citroen Xsara

Further down the ranking, the Renault Clio is boosted by its facelift, up 3 spots and 21% in 7th, the Citroen Xsara makes a brief appearance in the Top 10 in July with 28,750 sales and the Peugeot 206 starts what would end up being Peugeot’s most successful run in Europe with a 7th place in November at 28,000 sales.

All data tables automatically lock up seven days after publication. As a premium member you unlock absolutely all data tables for all 6,500 articles on the site, accessible by clicking on “Read more” at the bottom of each article.

Premium members have access to: - All data tables of all articles on the site regardless of date of publication. This includes all Historical Data tables for over 100 markets spanning decades and, in the case of France, over 120 years of data. - All Full Year Reports data tables - 134 markets were covered for 2014 and we are aiming at 150 for 2015. These are restricted to premium members on publication day and do not have a 7-day free access period. - Complete exclusive data for markets such as the UK, Russia, Turkey, China imports, South Korea imports and South Africa. Exclusive articles do not have a 7-day free access period on BSCB either.